Sunday 29th January – 4th Sunday of Epiphany

✝️8am Eucharist – Holy Trinity, Tarleton
✝️9:15am Sung Eucharist – St. Mary the Virgin, Rufford
✝️10:45am Sung Eucharist – Holy Trinity, Tarleton

COLLECT FOR THE FOURTH SUNDAY OF EPIPHANY
God our creator, who in the beginning commanded the light to shine out of darkness: we pray that the light of the glorious gospel of Christ may dispel the darkness of ignorance and unbelief, shine into the hearts of all your people, and reveal the knowledge of your glory in the face of Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

FIRST READING: 1 Kings 17:8-16
Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, ‘Go now to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and live there; for I have commanded a widow there to feed you.’ So he set out and went to Zarephath. When he came to the gate of the town, a widow was there gathering sticks; he called to her and said, ‘Bring me a little water in a vessel, so that I may drink.’ As she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, ‘Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.’ But she said, ‘As the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a jug; I am now gathering a couple of sticks, so that I may go home and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die.’ Elijah said to her, ‘Do not be afraid; go and do as you have said; but first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterwards make something for yourself and your son. For thus says the Lord the God of Israel: The jar of meal will not be emptied and the jug of oil will not fail until the day that the Lord sends rain on the earth.’ She went and did as Elijah said, so that she as well as he and her household ate for many days. The jar of meal was not emptied, neither did the jug of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by Elijah. This is the word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

PSALM 146:6-10 (R. Matthew 5:3)
Response: Blessed are the poor in spirit; the Kingdom of heaven is theirs.

FIRST READING: 1 Corinthians 1:18-end
For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.’ Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling-block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength. Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God. He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, in order that, as it is written, ‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.’ This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION – Jesus was attested to you by God with deeds of power, wonders and signs. Alleluia! Alleluia.

GOSPEL: John 2:1-11
Hear the Holy Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ according to John.
Glory to you, O Lord
On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”
“Woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.”
His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim. Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.”
They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”
What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.
This is the Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, O Christ.

Taize Chant: Laudate omnes gentes, laudate Dominum.
Laudate omnes gentes, laudate Dominum.
Trans. Sing praises, all you peoples Sing praises to the Lord.

HYMNS – The God of Abraham praise, Father, Lord of all creation, May the mind of Christ my Saviour, God be in my head, Sheet Laudate omnes gentes (Taize) & Be thou my vision
INTERCESSIONS Pray for:
🙏🏼The Sick: Zena Ashcroft, Margaret Baxter, Val Huddart, Wayne Jackett, Maureen Karr, Winnie Turner, Mary Sephton, Lavinia Sephton & Marlene Taylor.

🙏🏼The recently departed: Eric Ashcroft (2nd Feb, Tarleton), Alun Williams (8th Feb, Tarleton), Gerry Rawsthorne (9th Feb, Rufford), Philip George Williams (10th Feb).

🙏🏼Year’s Mind: Stephen Spiller Phillips, Winifred Murray, Ellen Bentham, Mabel Elizabeth Parker, Hellen Taylor, Simon Edward Lewis, Helen Lowe, Margaretha Helen Mayor, Robert Thompson, Ann Jane Hague, Philip Livesey.

Mon 30th Jan – Charles, King and Martyr, 1649.

Hebrews 11:32-end; Ps. 31:19-end; Mark 5:1-20

🙏🏼Please pray for His Majesty, King Charles III on this, the day we celebrate the life of his predecessor, Charles I.

Tues 31st Jan – St. John Bosco, priest, founder of the Salesian Order, 1888

Hebrews 12:1-4; Ps. 22:25b-end; Mark 5:21-end
🙏🏼Please pray for all religious, monks and nuns.

Wed 1st Feb – St. Brigid, Abbess. Co-patron of Europe.

✝️10am Eucharist – Holy Trinity, Tarleton

Hebrews 12:4-7, 11-15; Ps. 103:1-2, 13-18; Mark 6:1-6a
🙏🏼Please pray for Europe in light of the atrocities in Ukraine.

Thurs 2nd Feb – Candlemas

6:30pm Diamond Disciples – Holy Trinity, Tarleton community space
✝️7pm Eucharist – St. Mary the Virgin, Rufford

Malachi 3:1-5; Ps. 24; Hebrews 2:14-end; Luke 22:22- 40
🙏🏼Please pray all evangelists, lay and ordained.

Fri 3rd Feb – St. Anskar, archbishop, missionary. 865

10am-12noon Coffee & Chat – Holy Trinity, Tarleton & Rufford Cricket Club
✝️3:45pm Choir Church Mass – Candlemas – Tarleton Holy Trinity School—by invite only

Hebrews 13:1-8; Ps. 27:1-6, 9-12; Mark 6:14-29
🙏🏼Please pray for our Bishop, Philip, as he prepares to become the 10th Bishop of Blackburn.

Sat 4th Feb – Gilbert, founder of the Gilbertine order, 1189

Hebrews 13:15-17, 20-21; Ps. 23; Mark 6:30-34
🙏🏼Please pray for our MinistryTeam.

Sun 5th Feb – 3rd before Lent

8am Eucharist – Holy Trinity, Tarleton
9:15am Sung Eucharist – St. Mary the Virgin, Rufford
10:45am Sung Eucharist – Holy Trinity, Tarleton

🙏🏼Please pray for our Bishop, Philip North CMP, upon his appointment as Bishop of Blackburn. Bishop Philip will take up his post officially in May or June 2023.

CONTACTS

Rector: The Rev’d Canon Mark Soady SSC Rest Day: Monday
Tel: (01772) 814431/07968 753978, E-Mail: rector@rsmtht.church

Curate: The Rev’d Fr. Tristan Meares Rest Day: Tuesday
Tel: (01772) 590803/07547 973527, Email: curate@rsmtht.church

Ordinand: Danny Abraham – currently on placement at St. George the Martyr, Preston.